Jasper Fforde
Jasper Fforde (born 11 January 1961) is a British novelist. Fforde's first novel, The Eyre Affair, was published in 2001. Fforde is mainly known for his Thursday Next novels, although he has written several books in the loosely connected Nursery Crime series and has begun two more independent series, The Last Dragonslayer and Shades of Grey. Fforde's books are noted for their profusion of literary allusions and wordplay, tightly scripted plots, and playfulness with the conventions of traditional genres. His works usually contain elements of metafiction, parody, and fantasy. Contents 1 Family 2 Early life 3 Novels 4 Short stories 5 Other interests 6 Bibliography 7 Fforde Ffiesta 8 References 9 External links Family Fforde was born in London on 11 January 1961, the son of John Standish Fforde, the 24th Chief Cashier for the Bank of England (whose signature appeared on sterling banknotes during his time in office). He is the cousin, by her marriage to Desmond Fforde, of the author Katie Fforde,1 the grandson of Polish political adviser Joseph Retinger,2 and a great-grandson of journalist E. D. Morel. Early life Fforde was educated at the progressive Dartington Hall School, and his early career was spent as a focus puller in the film industry, where he worked on a number of films, including The Trial, Quills, GoldenEye, and Entrapment.3 Novels Fforde published his first novel, The Eyre Affair, in 2001. His published books include a series of novels starring the literary detective Thursday Next: The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, First Among Sequels, One of our Thursdays Is Missing and The Woman Who Died a Lot. The Eyre Affair had received 76 publisher rejections before its eventual acceptance for publication.4 Fforde won the Wodehouse prize for comic fiction in 2004 for The Well of Lost Plots.5 The Big Over Easy (2005), set in the same alternative universe as the Next novels, is a reworking of his first written novel, which initially failed to find a publisher. Its original title was Who Killed Humpty Dumpty?,6 and later had the working title of Nursery Crime, which is the title now used to refer to this series of books. These books describe the investigations of DCI Jack Spratt. The follow-up to The Big Over Easy, The Fourth Bear, was published in July 2006 and focuses on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Shades of Grey, the first novel in a new series, was published December 2009 in the United States and January 2010 in the United Kingdom. The sixth Thursday Next novel One of our Thursdays is Missing was published in February 2011.7 In November 2010 he produced The Last Dragonslayer, unconnected with his other works but in a similar though simplified style, a young-adult fantasy novel about a teenage orphan.8 The book was originally planned as the first in a trilogy.9 Subsequent entries were released in 2011 and 2014; a fourth book Humans Vs Trolls is scheduled for late 2017.10 Short stories In 2009, Fforde published a story in the Welsh edition of Big Issue magazine (a magazine distributed by the homeless) called "We are all alike" (previously called "The Man with no face").11 He also published "The Locked Room Mystery mystery" sic in the The Guardian newspaper in 2007 and this story remains online.12 The U.S. version of Well of Lost Plots features a bonus chapter (34b) called "Heavy Weather", a complete story in itself, featuring Thursday Next in her position as Bellman. Other interests Fforde has an interest in aviation and owns and flies a Rearwin Skyranger. Bibliography Thursday Next The Eyre Affair (2001) Lost in a Good Book (2002) The Well of Lost Plots (2003) Something Rotten (2004) First Among Sequels (2007) One of Our Thursdays is Missing (2011) The Woman Who Died a Lot (2012) 13 Nursery Crime Division The Big Over Easy (2005) The Fourth Bear (2006) Shades of Grey Shades of Grey (Title on the cover), Shades of Grey 1: The Road to High Saffron (2009) Shades of Grey prequel: 7 Things To Do Before You Die in Talgarth (2018)14 The Dragonslayer The Last Dragonslayer (2010) The Song of the Quarkbeast (2011) The Last Dragonslayer III: The Eye of Zoltar (2014) The Last Dragonslayer IV: Humans V. Trolls (2017)14 Standalone Novels Early Riser (2017) 15 Fforde Ffiesta Originating with the Fforde Ffestival in September 2005, the Fforde Ffiesta (cf. Ford Fiesta) is now an annual event built around Fforde's books and held in Thursday Next's home town of Swindon. Held over the May bank holiday weekend, people travel from as far away as Australia and the USA to take part in a wide range of events, including a re-enacting of gameshow Name That Fruit, Hamlet Speed Reading competitions and interactive performances of Richard III. References 1.Jump up ^ "Jasper Fforde Fan club FfAQs". Retrieved 2008-01-13. 2.Jump up ^ "Jasper Fforde website". Retrieved 2010-06-16. 3.Jump up ^ Jasper Fforde at the Internet Movie Database 4.Jump up ^ John Sutherland (26 July 2003). "If it's Thursday it must be the valley of death". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-11-22. 5.Jump up ^ John Ezard (31 May 2004). "Lost Plots gains a prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-11-22. 6.Jump up ^ Peter Guttridge (19 June 2005). "Back off or Humpty Dumpty gets it". The Observer. Retrieved 2007-11-22. 7.Jump up ^ "Jasper Fforde's twitter page". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2012-09-18. 8.Jump up ^ "The Last Dragonslayer". Jasper Fforde.com. Retrieved 2013-07-01. 9.Jump up ^ "Dragonslayer page". Retrieved 2011-02-06. 10.Jump up ^ "Special Page". Retrieved 2015-01-14. 11.Jump up ^ Jasper Fforde's website. http://www.jasperfforde.com/bookshelf/bookother_6.html 12.Jump up ^ Guardian website. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/dec/24/extract.originalwriting 13.Jump up ^ "Jasper Fforde.com : Next Book, New Page: News of upcoming publications". Retrieved 2012-04-25. 14.^ Jump up to: a b "Jasper Fforde.com : Next Book". Retrieved 2014-11-06. 15.Jump up ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Early-Riser-Jasper-Fforde/dp/144476358X/ External links Wikiquote has quotations related to: Jasper Fforde Official website The Fforde Ffiesta, annual fan gathering Jasper Fforde at British Council: Literature Jasper Fforde at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Jasper Fforde at the Internet Movie Database Interview broadcast by the Lewis Burke Frumkes Radio Show in January 2010 (audio) Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:People from Gloucestershire Category:21st-century English novelists Category:Alumni of Dartington Hall School Category:Dilys Award winners Category:English male novelists Category:Postmodern writers